During the night we heard rain and that was not too welcome. In the tropics when the rainy season arrives the water does not just ‘rain’ it pours like from an open tap in the sky. Fortunately when we got up there was no rain and the skies had broken clouds. But what did surprise me was that the temperature outside at 7:30 am was already about 27 degrees.
Today we had to be at the wharf by 8:30 to check in for the “Reef Magic” cruise. This involved driving downtown and finding parking. We discovered that for $7 we could park all day in an underground parking lot and that was perfect.
The wharf was really busy with pier after pier of cruise ships all offering tours to the Great Barrier Reef and a variety of activities. The Reef Magic was one that was recommended to us as the best. We can not compare, but there is our voice of recommendations to add.
The ship has two decks with both inside and outside seating. The warm temperature encouraged many to stay outdoors but the morning coffee and tea was offered on the lower deck inside. While we waited to head asea we had a chance to look over the optional activities. Included in the cruise is 5 hours at the Outer Barrier Reef, snorkelling with all equipment supplied, semi submersible tours, glass bottom boat tours, buffet lunch and informative, supportive staff. In addition we could sign up for Scuba Diving, Helmet Diving, helicopter rides and a variety of other options. Wes was adamant that he wanted to go snorkelling only but he insisted that I go scuba diving. This is additional costs but Wes wanted to give it to me for my birthday present.
Before I talk about the activities I wanted to talk about the setup at the outer reef. The ship we motored out on was very large as you can see from the picture. But when we got to the reef we actually moored to a large, anchored in place platform that was even larger. It had all the facilities to support all the activities except the helicopter landing pad which was on a different platform. The multi-decked platform was anchored and very stable.
I have my certification but it has been years since I dived so I joined the Introductory Scuba Diving group. I discovered that I really had not forgot the important actions but I was given an inspection to be sure I was properly set up before entering the water. Also for this group on the first dive, they send out two staff divers.
On the first dive the photographer was diving and taking pictures of us as we wandered around the reef. The Maori Wrasse (large beautiful blue fish) was around us often and we got our picture taken with the fish who loved to hang around with divers. This dive ended way too quickly. We started with 4 divers and two staff divers. One person dropped out almost immediately because of nerves.
The second dive was even better since we were able to move easier, quicker and dive deeper. We had only two with us this time since Jessica had a panic attack just as we entered the water. She stepped back for a few minutes and one of the staff divers took her down for a one to one dive. She was thrilled.
When we returned for this dive I had been diving for about 1 hour and I was feeling a bit tired. I was not sure I wanted to do the 3rd dive which is the one where we take a boat out to the outer edge of the reef and dive along the ‘cliff wall’ where the bigger fish and larger schools are found. I have been diving all this time with the 2 I started with and we talked it over and agreed that we all should do this last dive together. With a bit of rest I was ready to go although my stomach was starting to feel a bit queasy and I was worried that I was getting sea sick. I am so glad we went on this dive. By this time we all were very comfortable with diving and were following the staff diver but enjoying sightseeing and hand signals to stop, look and enjoy. We swam up and down, around and over a variety of shapes and underwater landscapes. We learned when we got back that we were down about 10 meters at most.
I will not even try to describe the types and names of fish that we saw but I would like to mention the Whitetip Reef Shark. The rest of the fish were all colourful and plentiful. There were several very large sized fish but I have no idea of their names. As for the coral, it was like looking at a patch of swamp willows from above but the difference was the colors. Lots of bright blue, green and beige blended with intertwining branches. The other areas of the coral included wide and varied shapes. What a beautiful, natural garden of shapes and colors.
We returned to the surface when we had swam about 100 meters (30 minutes time) and the dive boat come over to pick us up. As we waited we were bouncing around in the waves and that really got me wondering if I was getting sea sick or not (I just had a crumpy stomach). One of the other divers was not as lucky since he did get sick. One thing was for sure, we all were very tired since we had completed all three dives.
While I was doing this Wes was enjoying himself snorkelling around. He also was caught on digital by the photographer. He has only started to snorkel on this trip but I think he has found something he really enjoys. We have started to use the lycra suits (also called stinger suits) which is a full body suit and we enjoyed spending hours floating on the surface of the water without worrying about sunburn.
By the time we finished our different swimming, eaten a lunch and did the submersible boat tour we had completed a full day. This was a really incredible experience that we both will cherish and remember.
We are both a bit tired, but we will find something to do tomorrow that will be less strenuous, I hope.
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